Forbidden Origins
by lovewriting18
Summary: In his fourth year of Hogwarts, Colin and his friends are curious about where their magic came from. After a less than helpful answer from Dumbledore, they seek out more help. With the help of Percy, Colin and his friends are up for a discovery they never expected. I know, not a very good summary, but please read! Rated M to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

_London, England. Ministry of Magic. Eighth Century._

Wulfric Dumbledore glared at the wizards before him over is moon shaped glasses. They glared right back at him. He cleared his throat.

"Good evening. I presume you all understand why you are here?"

John Creevey's eyes darkened, "No, I do not! We did nothing-"

"Yes, sir, we do." Alice Wood interrupted.

Dumbledore nodded, "Good. You should pay more attention to Miss Wood, Mr. Creevey. She clearly has more sense than you do. Now, the lot of you have many serious charges pressed against. To begin with, Mr. Creevey, you have caused Angelina Potter to suffer severe damage thanks to the Cruciatus Curse you used on her. She is a respected employee of the Ministry and now she might not be able to return to to work! I am going to lose a valuable aspect of this organization!"

"You don't even care about her!" Creevey yelled, "You'll just replace her with another witch who will blindly follow you around! All you want is followers! You don't care about her well being or any one else's! All you care about is how this is going to affect your stupid Ministry and-"

"Silence!"

Dumbledore stood up and pointed his wand at the group of Wizards.

"You better learn to control what comes out of your mouth Creevey. I will not hesitate to use force not only on you, but each and every one of you."

Creevey glowered and looked away.

"Now, to continue with the charges. Mr. Weasley..."

What seemed like hours later, Dumbledore finally finished reading off everyone's charges.

"You lot have been convicted of much, it'll be a miracle if you make it out of here alive." he said.

Behind him, various witches and wizards talked in quiet voices. Dumbledore turned to face them.

"This is unbelievable!" Creevey hissed, "We're getting punished and for what? Informing people of what we were trying to do? What we created, we could help not only the Wizarding World, but the Muggle World as well!"

"John, that's enough." Richard Flint sighed, "We're trapped. There are more of them than there are us. We're done."

"No we're not! We could still-"

"Stop it! Dumbledore was right. We'll be lucky to get out of here alive." Naomi Abbott said.

"Listen to all of you! You're all just giving up? We started something great together! You used to be so enthusiastic!"

"Yeah, that was before our lives were on the line! I'm scared, John! You know this! I have a wife and baby that I may never see again!" Gregory Longbottom said, "So if I'm a little less than enthusiastic I'm sorry! I'd like to see my child grow up!"

Creevey shook his head, "Cowards. Weak. Pathetic."

"I hope you're not generalizing too much, mate." Marianne Finch smiled, "I'm still right behind you. So's Adam. He's still dazed from all the curses he was hit by, but you know if he could he would've been more angry than you."

Creevey smiled, "Anyone else still behind me?"

"Probably Smith. But he's still at St. Mungo's."

Before Creevey could say something else, Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think you would like to know whether or not you live."

Everyone stared at him. He smirked.

"Alright, the Ministry has decided that we will spare your lives. However, we have also decided that some of you are more of a threat than others. Creevey, Finch, Fletchley, and Smith. You have been charged not only with direct assault on Ministry officials, but with your proactive agenda to spread the word of your illegal magic. Therefore, we have decreed that you four and your families will be in confinement with Ministry."

"Our whole families? They weren't even there during the confrontation!" Creevey yelled.

"We also fear that your dark tendencies threaten the stability of the entire Wizarding World. You will be forced to procreate with muggles until we see it fit that all traces of magic are out of your blood line."

"What! That's barbaric! My future children have to come from some muggle I don't even know!" Finch yelled.

Dumbledore cleared his throat again, "Weasley, Wood, Abbott, Bones, Longbottom, Mclaggen, Lovegood, and Macmillan. You are all sentenced to five years in Azkaban. Since you come from Light families, you will be spared procreating with muggles, but will undergo treatments to defect you from dark tendencies. With the help of us and your families, I'm certain you will be cured of this darkness that has corrupted you."

"Thank you, sir." Aimee Bones said with a sigh of relief.

"And finally, Flint, Montague, Pucey, Higgs, Bole, Bletchley, and Warrington. The seven of you will serve ten years in Azkaban. Following that you will be exiled from the Wizarding World in London."

"Why can't we undergo the treatment? Our families are just as light as the others." James Bole asked.

"Because we feel that the darkness inside of you is too strong. Our treatments would never work. You must be exiled in order to protect not only the wizards, but the muggles that live here. Now, as you stand before me, Aurors are raiding your houses for the grimoires. We are going to destroy them so that no one can discover this darkness. We will be a Wizarding World full of light, hope, and innocence."

Dumbledore watched as Aurors escorted angry and exhausted wizards out of the courtroom. He sat down in a chair and looked to a young witch.

"When the other Aurors return with the grimoires, inform them that they are to destroy them and leave no trace."

She made a note on her parchment.

"After tonight, it will be as if this never happened."


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome back everyone! Here's the next chapter, technically chapter one. Thank you for those of you that have taken the time to give this story a chance! You guys rock! Just a quick note, this story is AU, so it will not correspond with the books or movies. **

**I seem to have forgotten to mention this in the last chapter: Harry Potter, sadly, does not belong to me, but belongs to J.K. Rowling. And thank you to WolfSpirit1992 for the story! :D**

**Enjoy!**__

Present Day, Hogwarts

It was three weeks after the beginning of fourth year for Colin. That Friday was a pleasant one. The sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze rustling through the trees; a calm afternoon one would say. What made it better was the fact that one of his best, but most hated, classes was over for the day. Potions. It was another typical two hour session with the Slytherins, not that he had a problem with all of them. Some of them were actually very pleasant people; except for Malfoy, his cronies and that pug-faced Parkinson. All period, Malfoy and his goons would rile up Potter, Weasley, and anyone else in their vicinity. Of course, Gryffindor would take the heat if one of them retaliated in the slightest. He was sure to snipe at Colin too, calling him a "mudblood" when he got in his way to collect the bloodroot for their assignment. Same old thing, nothing special.

Once the clock signaled the end of class, Colin was sure to pack his things and exit the dungeons promptly, accidentally bumping into Ron.

"Watch where you're going!" He snapped and stormed off, still angry at Malfoy and losing twenty points for his house.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to." Colin muttered.

_'What an ass.'_

He shook it off and proceeded to meet Justin, Zacharias and Dennis out in the courtyard for their daily powwow. Justin was sitting on a ledge fidgeting around in his robes. Zacharias was lying on the grass while Dennis was scoping out the territory, watching people pass by, observing their every move. For a third year, his eyes were kind of shifty, if one thought about it long enough.

"You know, Dennis, watching people for long periods of time gets creepy after a while." Zacharias drawled out.

"So does you standing over Ernie when he's sleeping, but you don't see me complaining about it." He snipped back.

Zacharias snorted and stared back at the clouds.

"Always the snarky little shit aren't you, little brother?" Colin walked up and sat on the ledge beside Justin who finally looked up from his robes.

"'Bout time, Col."

"Sorry I'm a tad late...bad day in Potions again. Ron lost us twenty points."

"Again?" Dennis groaned, "That's the third time this week...doesn't know when to shut up, the blowhard."

"It's Ron. What do you expect? If Percy hasn't knocked sense into him by now, I dunno what will. Can't say he hasn't tried." Colin sighed, "Malfoy antagonizing him all the time doesn't help the matter either...and speak of the devil."

He looked across the way to the stone arch to see Malfoy surrounded by his crew, walking near them. They were all talking loudly about something-complaining was more like it. Malfoy, of course, had to be the center of attention.

"I swear, that little mudblood 'Puff needs to watch where he's going! How dare he knock into me and spill ink all over my new robes. You know, mother only buys me the best of the best robes and now thanks to that imbecile they're ruined! Has he no respect for his superiors?! He's lucky I didn't hex his sorry arse all the way to next week!"

"Of course not, Drakie. Mudbloods are good-for-nothing pieces of rubbish tarnishing our school. It's a shame they're allowed here to begin with or that they possess magic for that matter. Salazar knows they're the weaker species." Pansy supplied, hanging all over his arm with her shirt unbuttoned down to her cleavage, looking like a harlot. "Speaking of good-for-nothing pieces of rubbish."

She nodded in the direction where Colin, Dennis, Justin and Zacharias were sitting, listening intently to his little tantrum.

"Hello, mudbloods." she snapped with a sneer, wrinkling up her already pug-like features.

"Parkinson, Malfoy." Colin regarded sharply, "Don't you have anything better to do than to constantly run your mouths over things out of your control? And I thought Ron was a whiner..."

Draco whipped out his wand and pointed it directly at Colin's face.

"I'm not in the mood, so don't you dare take that tone with me, Creevey! Don't you have any idea of what I could do to you or to any of those pathetic wastes of space behind you?" He spat acidly to him, pointing at his brother and the others in emphasis.

Just then Justin jumped up, clearly pissed.

"Pathetic wastes of space?! You shut the fuck-"

"All right, that is enough. Break it up or it's points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff!" Percy, the sixth-year prefect waltzed right into the confrontation, which was quickly garnering everyone else's attention.

"You go that way and cool off, I'll handle this." Percy said, gesturing to Colin and his group.

They took the order, dragging a fuming Justin with them.

Percy pinched the bridge of his nose. '_Good thing I arrived in the nick of time. Justin looked ready to send Malfoy to Pomfrey, not that I blame him.'_ He turned to Malfoy and his crew.

"Twenty-five points from Slytherin for instigating a fight with other students. You will report to Professor McGonagall to receive your detentions."

Malfoy scoffed, "Whatever, blood-traitor."

Percy responded in a low voice, "Just be glad this 'blood-traitor' didn't make it fifty points from each of you and given you a month's detention. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Percy left to his next class with Malfoy and his company leaving in the other direction.

Meanwhile, at the Quidditch pitch, Justin was throwing his own little tantrum.

"Who the fuck does Malfoy think he is?! Calling us 'pathetic wastes of space' just because we're Muggleborn! And that bitch Parkinson, where does she get off in saying 'it's a shame that we possess magic' or that we're the 'weaker species'?! Fuckin' elitists...I should have just knocked their blocks off, consequences be damned!"

"You know that wouldn't have gotten us anywhere. Sure we might have gotten a few brownie points from Malfoy and Parkinson haters but the payback would have been much worse." Colin reasoned.

"Still, they had no right to say that. You don't see me bashing Purebloods, I mean really, where does it say that their magic is truly stronger than ours? Nowhere! I've read nearly every book they have about Wizarding folk and not one page has ever declared that rumor to be true! Potter is a half-blood for Christ's sake and he put Malfoy on his ass during Dueling Class in second year! And don't even get me started on Hermione!"

"You're right, Justin. No one has ever said it was the truth but honestly, Parkinson has me thinking about something."

" What, pray tell, would that be?" Zacharias asked, looking at Colin warily, "Please tell me that bitch isn't making you reconsider her words."

"No, not at all. But the opposite really. We're all Muggleborn, meaning born to parents without Magical blood and yet, we still ended up as wizards, right? So, somehow, we had to have had some magical ancestors. How far up the line though...that's the mystery. I mean, hell, Malfoy goes on and on about how far his pureblood line extends every chance he gets, so who's to say that we're not descended from Purebloods ourselves? Our families had to have been at some point in order to have passed magic down the line."

Justin looked as though his mind was blown, "You may have something there, Colin. Why the hell didn't I think of that sooner?"

"Probably 'cause you don't."

"Shut up, Smith!"

Dennis snickered, "Now that you mention it, I have been curious as to how we got our magic. I would like to know where it comes from."

Colin nodded, "So, how about it?"

Everyone murmured in agreement.

"Let's search out ancestry. There has to be some information in the library or somebody might know how to research our bloodlines. But where to begin?" Colin narrowed his eyes in thought. After a couple of minutes, he quipped. "Library, anyone? If all else fails, ask Dumbledore. He knows just about everything."

The boys left the pitch and wandered back to the castle, anticipating their search.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next update! Just a quick note: a memory will be shown with a ~* and end with that as well. I just want to avoid any confusion. Anywho, here's the next chapter! I hope you all like it! Enjoy! :D**

Several hours had passed since Colin, Dennis, Justin and Zacharias went to the library. The boys would have asked their other friends to help but they were either in class, working on essays or were on the opposite side of Hogwarts. They were currently sitting at a large oak table, pouring through indexes, archives and whatever else on the Wizarding World's family trees. Colin was flipping through one huge book titled _Ancient Wizarding Families of the United Kingdom-The Complete Archives._

"Abbott, Black, Bones, Diggory...Greengrass..Malfoy..Montague...Potter...Weasley...Yaxley." He sighed, pushing a little longer than shoulder-length lock of light blonde hair out of his face and shutting the book. "Well, this is the last book out of the archives and still nothing. Shit."

He put his head down on the table in exhaustion.

"Ah cheer up, mate." Justin patted Colin's back. "Remember what you said earlier? 'When all else fails, ask Dumbledore'? Why don't we go ahead and do that...my legs are falling asleep."

"Right, come on guys."

The quartet grabbed their cloaks and strolled out of the library in search of Dumbledore. Little did they know, a few pairs of eyes were watching them from behind the bookshelves across the library.

"So.. they've finally decided to look up their roots?"

* * *

Dumbledore was strolling through the corridor, occasionally conversing with a painting or one of the resident ghosts that just happened to float by, periwinkle blue eyes twinkling on as they normally do. Too much for any man, actually. Just as he was about to turn to the right, heading towards his office, a nicely deepened male voice called out to him.

"Professor Dumbledore! A moment of your time, please?"

He turned to see Colin Creevey, his little brother, Justin and Zacharias coming towards him.

"Mr. and Mr. Creevey, Mr. Finch-Fletchley and Mr. Smith, a pleasure it is to see you this fine evening. What can I do for you?" He asked, giving his legendary soft, grandfatherly smile.

"Professor, we were wondering..um... you know how almost every Wizarding family in Britain and the surrounding areas...have records of their families going back Merlin knows when? We were looking to find ours, because even if we're Muggleborn, there has to be someone in our families that we got our magic from. Can you help us? We're kind of...stuck." Colin finished hopefully.

Dumbledore's eyes suddenly lost a little of the carefree glimmer they always carried and his smile shrunk ever so slightly. That question certainly caught him off guard. _'What exactly made these boys want to know their heritage? They had no reason of searching before. Hm...it seems as there's only one thing to do...'_ He smiled softly again, but with a slight sadness to it.

"I'm sorry boys, there are no records of your families. Due to the fact that you four are Muggleborn, your magic could have come from anyone, probably over a millennium ago. The Wizengamot was still in its infancy and record keeping was not their forte, so to speak. I truly apologize for any inconvenience this may yield to you boys. But look at it this way, you can begin your own legacies as you continue your education at Hogwarts and afterwards if you choose. I have to retire for the evening, my new shipment of those lemon sherbet drops have come in and I would like a sample. Good night." He nodded to each of them and stepped off to his office.

Colin stood there as he replayed the conversation over in his head.

"Is he serious? No records? No...there has to be. We've just looked at about a hundred books, with families like the Blacks and Malfoys going back to the time the Wizengamot was established and their records are perfect, not to mention, so are many of the others I read about!" He exclaimed to the others. "There's no way something of ours isn't recorded..." He shook his head in frustration.

"Yeah, there is something fishy going on." Justin muttered.

Dennis chimed in "Any of you notice how he hesitated for that brief moment and his eyes...how they lost some of their usual twinkle? He knows something, but isn't going to tell us."

_'Thank Merlin for Dennis's knack for observation.'_ "Now that you mention it...I noticed that too." Colin spun around to face them. "I don't know how...I don't know why he's lying but I am determined to find out. We may not know much about the Wizengamot, record keeping and all that shit going on at the ministry, but I know someone who does. He's read his books on them about fifty times-their establishment, their roles in governing, rules and regulations, the whole shebang. I believe he's qualified to inform us on what's really going on. First, we'll eat dinner and then, we'll talk to Percy."

* * *

Later on in Dumbledore's office, a tall man in lavender robes was pacing about, his phoenix watching his every move. He peered out the window through his half-moon spectacles in contemplation over the earlier conversation.

"I never thought this would happen...I know I did no wrong in telling them that lie. It's for the good of the Wizarding World." He muttered to himself.

He sighed and walked over to a marble stand holding a large marble bowl with water, dimly glowing. It was his personal pensieve. Dumbledore pointed his wand toward his temple and pulled out a memory. He then placed it into the pensieve and watched this one particular moment in which he never thought he'd see again.

~*It was a sunny summer afternoon in Dumbledore's office. He was reading over his morning paper, sipping tea until a piece of parchment glowed with green writing several times to his right. It was his "Accidental Magic" list. It recorded every child's name and the incident the accidental magic caused in the United Kingdom-minor or major and it recorded the child's blood status. Everyday, a few names made it onto the list so he decided to peek and then get back to his article on the mating patterns of Unicorns.

"Now...who do we have today?" He chuckled softly. "Hm..Hannah Abbott, Seamus Finnigan, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Dean Thomas. A Pureblood, a Halfblood, a couple new Muggleborns and the Boy-Who-Lived, how marvelous!"

He was beginning to turn away until three new names appeared. His curiosity getting the best of him, he decided to have another look. His teacup crashed to the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces. His smile faltered quickly into a frown.

"No...this can't be. I thought this was taken care of long ago. There's hasn't been anyone magical in their families for nearly a thousand years."

The new names and incidents were as follows: 'Colin Creevey- minor explosion of an object with no earthly cause, Justin Finch-Fletchley- unexplained fires on school grounds, Zacharias Smith- vanishing from inside his house and appearing in the neighbor's yard.' All Muggleborn. Dumbledore read and reread the list and leaned back into his chair in worry but then a realization dawned upon him. _'Since these boys will be coming into a whole new world full of possibilities, their minds will be so wrapped up in what's happening, they won't give their heritage a second thought. Not many young boys care and they're looking to make a name for themselves. I have their families' grimoires locked up, they cannot get to them, so no harm done.'_ He smiled rather smugly and went back to his article. *~

After watching the memory and placing it back inside his mind, Dumbledore sat down in his chair pondering of what to do next. _'Well...they seemed satisfied, albeit a little disappointed with my answer. I am usually the last resort to anyone seeking an answer or advice...and my word is always final. I am sure I won't have any more issues from them. They're my lions after all, and those two badgers seem like a couple of sensible young men, most Hufflepuffs are. To top it off, their grimoires are still in my possession. I believe everything will come to pass and become normal once again. I have a meeting to attend tomorrow afternoon at the Ministry, I need my rest.'_

Dumbledore walked into his chambers and called it a night, falling quickly into slumber.

* * *

"Dumbledore...he's just like all the others. He's got everyone fooled to believe that he is perfect. Nobody knows that he is the true traitor."

"What are we going to do? They're children and don't know any better."

"We have to talk to them."

"How? They can't see us. We're dead, remember?"

"Yes, but we have more power dead than we had when we were alive. I'll speak to Colin tonight."

**Alrighty, there you go! I hope you liked it! Leave me a review and tell me what you all thought!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey all you people! How are you? Here's the next update! I hope you all like it!**

**Remember: ~* indicates a memory or a dream. :)**

_(Later on that night, Gryffindor Tower: Fourth Years Boys' Dorm, Colin's bed.)_

~*It was nightfall, torches lit a large clearing in the woods. Two large groups of people were arguing across each other, fingers pointing accusingly. A boy of fourteen wearing black pajamas was standing in the shadows, watching from behind a giant oak, trying to make out the conversation. A tall man with nearly waist length, light blonde hair to the left was yelling angrily.

"You don't understand! We were only telling them the truth! There are two sides to magic, Wulfric! How can you live with yourself, keeping people ignorant?! They have a right to know!"

Opposite him, an older man approximately sixty years of age or so, flanked by several other witches and wizards wearing badges, was staring down the blonde man and the group behind him, who were adorned in varying dark-colored robes.

"We rule this land and we decide what magic is lawful and what is not! We cannot and will not allow you and your comrades to taint the minds of our youth and the other citizens that live in the Wizarding world! You seem to have forgotten whose word is supreme around here and we won't stand for your insolence!"

"You are the ones who are insolent, Wulfric, storming to our place of solitude, demanding us to abandon and disregard what is of great importance!" A man of his early twenties, with long and curly crimson hair retorted.

The older man, Wulfric, responded "You come from a good Light family, Adrastos. It is a shame that you've disgraced your house with this sort of magic."

The crimson-haired man, Adrastos, countered "I'd rather be a 'disgrace' than to be your blind pawn, you insufferable fool."

Wulfric's eyes narrowed in anger but he remained silent.

The light blonde man spoke up "It's people like you that are truly the disgrace and you say that 'we' give wizarding kind a bad name. So take your ill-considered senses, your thoughtless imbeciles and go back to the cave from whence you came and leave us be."

The blonde man and his group turned to take their leave until a black-haired woman screeched "How dare you to speak to our minister that way, you evil wretch?!" and fired a powerful stinging hex at the blonde's back, sending him to the forest floor.

"John!" one of the members cried, a man with dark brown hair wearing a pine-colored robe.

Seething, he turned and fired a hex right back to the black-haired woman. More of Wulfric's crew retaliated, thus sending both sides into a small-scale battle.

The boy hiding behind the oak tried to call out, but was unheard so he ran closer thinking he could help. He stopped in his tracks after seeing a sandy-haired man being thrown to the ground in the front of him, terribly injured.

"Smith!" He looked up to see the light blonde looking upon the man on the ground in fear, his expression soon turned to that of rage and he cast a final curse on the black-haired woman, who nearly sent his friend to his death.

"CRUCIO!" he roared, making the woman writhe and contort in serious pain, blood starting to drip from her mouth. Feeling that she's had enough, he ended the curse. "That's what you get for nearly killing Bronwen and trying to destroy the rest of us."

The boy in the shadows stared at this man. _'His longer, light blonde hair, his sky blue eyes, his facial features...he looks just like me, but older. Is he?-'_ His thoughts were interrupted as the blonde man turned around to the others and walked over. His eyes darted around the clearing, most of Wulfric's group was either unconscious or trying to help the others up, they were otherwise alive. The same for his side except several had mere bumps and bruises and one with dark brown, shoulder length hair was very dazed.

"Let's go, we've made our point and Bronwen needs medical attention." They strolled away from the scene, unfortunately in too little time when an even larger group of aurors surround them.

"By orders of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and of our minister Wulfric Dumbledore, you are all under arrest."

The boy watched as the Aurors arrested the blonde man and his comrades and forced them out of the clearing, down a well-worn path.

"It's about time you learned the truth.." a deep voice said behind him.

He turned instantly to find no one. "Who..who's there? Who are you?"

The disembodied voice spoke again "The answers you all seek will be given in due time, now it's time for you to wake up. Wake up, Colin...wake up."*~

Colin awoke with a jolt. He sat up and wiped the sweat off his forehead, moving his long locks out of his face.

"Tempus" he whispered.

It was 7:00 am, time for breakfast to begin. He rose from his bed and looked around. Everyone else had gone except for Cormac and Neville, who were putting on their last articles of clothing before they headed out the door.

"Thought you were sleeping in, mate. Everything ok? You look like you had a nightmare." Cormac questioned.

"I-I'm fine...the dream was kind of intense, that's all." He smiled reassuringly to the both of them. This seemed to satisfy his friends.

"Alright, then. We'll see you at breakfast, Col." They walked out of the dorm and down to the Great Hall.

Colin stood in the middle of the room, replaying bits and pieces of the dream but shook his head of them. '_I need to wash up, I can tell them about this later. I also gotta talk to Percy...he was busy with an assignment last night.'_ He gathered his clothes and toiletries and left to shower. He finished dressing and headed down to breakfast with plenty of time to spare since it lasted longer on weekends.

Colin went and sat down with Percy, Dennis, Cormac and Neville. Joining them at Gryffindor table were Justin, Ernie, Hannah, Susan, Zacharias and the ever-dreamy Luna. They were talking and eating amongst themselves. They were a rather motley sort of people, definitely. One would think they'd be running with the Golden trio and the others surrounding them at the opposite end at the table, but that would be an incorrect assumption. One was a cunning brainiac, one a dreamer, one was a little pompous, one was shy and kind of clumsy, three were snarky and total smart-asses, three were spunky and generally happy people, but woe be unto those who pissed them off. The last one was sensible most of the time, but still a true Gryffindor who sometimes took too many photos. They have another member, Oliver, their borderline obsessive Keeper. He was sitting on Percy's left while laughing at a joke the Twins were telling him. This group had their differences, their strengths, weaknesses and irritating but somehow endearing quirks. Maybe that's what drew them together, but only they know. Colin took off his jacket since it was rather warm with all the people in the bustling hall and prepared his plate and sipped on pumpkin juice. He got in a few bites until Percy, on Colin's left asked him a question.

"So Colin, what is it that you, Dennis and the rest wanted to ask me last night?

"I wanted to ask you about record-keeping at the Ministry."

"Record-keeping? What sort of records, specifically? Is this an assignment for Professor Binns?"

"Well, family records. After a little confrontation with Malfoy and Parkinson yesterday, I found myself wondering about where my magic could come from. I mean, since I'm muggleborn, it had to have come from a distant ancestor."

Percy nodded, intrigued. "Go on."

Colin continued "Me, Dennis, Justin and Zacharias decided to try and find something about our heritage, hoping to find answers. We poured through practically every resource the library had. Nothing. So, we went to what we thought was the next best source-Dumbledore. He then gave us this bullshit explanation about how 'There are no records of our families..' that 'our magic could have come from anywhere probably over a millennia ago'..and that 'the Wizengamot was still in its infancy and that record keeping was not their forte'. I call bullshit on that. Get this-he hesitated. He hesitated before he told us there was nothing. Ask Dennis, he watched him carefully."

Percy looked to Dennis, sitting beside Cormac and Zacharias. He knew that boy had a talent for observation..even caught Harry, Ron and Hermione in a bold-faced lie once, but didn't say anything.

"Dennis.." He looked up at Percy. "What exactly indicated to you that Dumbledore was lying?"

"Easy. You see that he twinkles all day, everyday, regardless of what conversation he's in and its subject matter? And how he also has a little smile on his face all the time? It's quite creepy actually, how much he smiles and twinkles. Anyway, once Colin asked him about our family records, the 'twinkling' they usually held subsided, so did his smile, but it was very slight. If you didn't look close enough, you'd have missed it entirely. It was nearly a whole minute until he responded. His expression returned to normal afterwards. It's one tell-tale sign of a lie. He is definitely keeping his mouth shut about something...he doesn't normally do that unless it's big."

Percy went silent in short contemplation. _'Dumbledore was definitely lying to them. Colin was right about his explanation being total bullshit. The Ministry has kept tight, complete records of every family in the United Kingdom a century before the Wizengamot even came to be. I know. I've read the books, every sentence, every word. They have to keep a record of every birth, death, disownment, marriage, what have you. It's to keep track of the Wizarding population, for legal reasons, everything. It's standard procedure!'_ He perked out of his thoughts when Colin tapped him on the shoulder.

"What were you thinking about? You were quiet for like...five minutes."

"Dumbledore lied." He said, carefully keeping his voice to only where Colin and their friends can hear them.

Those are two words nobody would ever expect to hear from Percy. He had this image of the stuck up, rule-abiding, Dumbledore-loving, sixth-year Prefect. In truth, he was actually quite cunning, not afraid to bend or break a rule if needed and actually had a mind of his own, meaning that he didn't hang onto Dumbledore's every last word like his parents, siblings, and most other people. He did not trust that man as far as one could throw him. He twinkled more than the average person and talked about the 'Greater good' too much for anyone to not have a hidden agenda. This man had many pawns and knew how to play them just right. A shepherd who always lead his sheep to pasture. Percy didn't show his hidden traits too much, he had a mask to keep up after all. He liked whatever secrets he could keep since it was nearly almost always futile to do so in the Weasley house, especially if the twins were involved.

"We can discuss this more after breakfast in the library. There's too many people that can overhear. Bring Dennis, Justin and Zacharias with you. You can tell the others later, just not right this instant. Just tell them you're going to do some last-minute research to get a head start on an assignment."

They nodded in response. Percy gulped down the rest of his tea, told Oliver he was going to the library and strode out of the hall. The four finished their breakfast, gave the same excuse and headed towards the library. Susan looked after them as they left. '_Justin and Zacharias never go to the library on the weekend. And what's this about an assignment? We're in the same classes, I would have known about it. Well, whatever the reason..I hope it's a good one. I'll leave it alone for now.'_ She went back to her breakfast.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Here's another update! Thanks for taking the time to read! :D**

As Susan went back to eating, little did she know that across the hall at the Slytherin table, the same several pairs of eyes followed Percy, Colin and his group out of the hall.

One muttered "Seems as though they've dragged Weasley into it too, he'll soon stumble across some new 'information'."

"I don't doubt that for a second..I think he'll flip once he finds out.''

* * *

Five minutes later, Colin and the gang met Percy at the back of the library. Percy looked around to see if anyone was around them, finding no one, except for a few Ravenclaw stragglers. He cast a Silencing and conversation-scrambling spell for extra precaution. They all took a seat at an oak table.

"So, Percy..what is it you need to tell us?" Justin asked.

"To start off with, Dumbledore lied to you."

"Pfft..that's a shock." Zacharias scoffed.

Ignoring that comment, Percy continued "Anyway, the story he told you about the faulty record keeping was false. Family records were taken down fully a century before the Wizengamot was even established. Since the population in Britain was substantially growing, they had to keep better records for legal and other purposes. Their scribes or secretaries if you will, recorded the names of every witch or wizard. Every birth, every death, marriage, divorce, you name it...was written down. Although this was a time which the muggles called 'the Dark Ages' meaning little to no information was recorded down, this period of ignorance did not apply to wizarding folk. To this day, names are constantly recorded, even new muggleborn students who come to Hogwarts. So there is literally no way that there are no records on your families."

"I knew it!" Colin exclaimed. "Just like I told you guys last night, every other family's information I read in the archives was perfectly recorded! There has to be a reason he lied...what it is exactly...I have no clue."

"Whatever it is, it better be a damn good excuse." Justin snarled.

"Guys, I think I have a way that we can find out." Percy said.

They looked at him, waiting.

He cleared his throat, "Dumbledore has a meeting this afternoon with the Ministry. His office will be empty and we can look around but we'll have to wait for two hours until he leaves. So let's keep ourselves occupied until then."

"How the hell do you plan on getting us in?" Zacharias asked.

"You'll see...be patient."

They did just that.

* * *

Two hours later, Percy stood up and started putting his homework away.

"Well, I guess we can go find out now. Since he gives the Prefects the passwords, I can get in. I've been in his office and he has several filing shelves with the names of all the current students, plus background information on their families. If anyone who has his fingers in the Ministry and just so happens to be the head seat of the Wizengamot, he should have what we're looking for. Let's go."

They followed Percy out of the library, heading to Dumbledore's office. They were almost there until Professor McGonagall stopped by them.

"Mr. Weasley, good thing I caught you. Dumbledore changed the password to his office. You, the other prefects and the Head Boy and Girl will have to wait until tonight to receive them. I trust that you can keep things in order until then?" She watched him carefully, with a stern look in her eyes.

"Of course, Professor. Thank you."

She nodded and headed down the hall. He waited until she was out of sight.

"Son of a bitch..." He muttered.

Dennis quipped "Great...how do we get in now?"

"We don't. That's the problem. We have to wait until he gets back and even then, he almost never leaves his office." Percy said, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Colin started pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. "Come on...this is Hogwarts. A castle filled with countless doors, halls and secret passageways. One has to lead us to his office..."

A little wind began to blow through the corridor.

_"There is..."_

Colin jumped and looked all around him. '_That voice!'_ They looked at him.

"What is it, Colin?" Dennis asked.

"Did you hear that voice?"

"What voice?" Justin asked, curiously.

"I heard a voice telling me there is a way. It's the same voice I heard in my dream last night."

Percy looked at Colin. "What dream was that?"

Colin shook his head. "I-I'll tell you later, right now be quiet!"

The deep voice spoke again in Colin's ear. _"Go down the hall, take two rights and open the black door. Tap on the stone wall three times, you will be shown the way."_

Colin repeated the instructions. "Go down the hall...take two rights and open the black door. Tap on the stone wall three times, you will be shown the way."

He looked ahead of them, just left of Dumbledore's office.

"Come on guys, follow me."

Seeing as there's no other way, they followed Colin down the hall and took those two rights and stopped at a black door. It was the only one at the end of the hall. Colin turned the knob and the door creaked open, showing a dark closet filled with junk and cobwebs. The stone wall was clear of any obstruction. He walked up to it.

"The voice didn't say where to tap on it...so I guess try anywhere."

He pulled out his wand, but Percy stepped in front of him.

"No, let me. As a prefect, I cannot knowingly risk your safety. Let me give it a try."

Colin nodded. Percy pulled out his own wand and tapped on the middle of the wall three times. The stones slid smoothly apart, revealing a secret passageway faintly lit with small torches. They looked at each other then at the passageway.

"Think Dumbledore knows about this?" Zacharias pondered aloud.

"I doubt it, nearly every door surrounding his office is locked for good reason. So, it's pretty interesting that door just gave for us." Percy responded.

"What are we waiting for? Let's see if it takes us to his office." Colin stepped through the wall and treaded down the passageway with Percy and the others following close behind.

Nearly two minutes later, they came to a wooden door and opened it. They entered a darkened room, filled with all sorts of artifacts, books and treasures.

"This isn't his office." Percy stated. "What is this place?"

They looked around, stopping momentarily to gaze at an object or book until they came across a large chest at the back of the room. It looked to be ancient, almost a thousand years old. It was ornately decorated, with gemstones, gold and silver leaf and the initials '**WAD**' were emblazoned on the front panel.

"Wonder what's in here?" Colin wondered as he reached out to the chest.

"Stop. Let me run a few tests first." Percy cast the necessary incantations to detect any warding enchantments and there was none, to his surprise.

"All right, it's clear. Go on and open it."

Colin obeyed and opened the chest. Inside it was larger, lined in red and gold silk. It was housing a number of books. They had some writing on the front but it too dark to see.

"Lumos" he whispered and the light showed the titles of the thick books. He pulled one out that said 'Finch' in old English lettering.

"Hey Justin, look. It has one of your last names on it." He held it out and Justin took it, inspecting it.

"Percy, what kind of book is this and why does it have part of my name of it?"

"Let me look at that." Percy grabbed the large tome and scrutinized over it.

"This is a family grimoire."

"A what?" Justin queried.

"A family grimoire. It's a book that has records of all family magic. It also contains the names and history of the family in which it's passed down from. Family members add to the collection before they pass it to the next generation. This is more common among purebloods and some half-bloods. These can go back as far as the first member of a line. Colin, look again and see what other names could be in there."

Colin dug back into the chest, pulling out grimoire after grimoire, reading the names. "Fletchley, Smith...and holy shit..CREEVEY! We found it, Dennis! Finally...something that can tell us who we are. Hm?...that's strange."

"What's strange?" Percy looked at him.

"You said all pureblood families have a grimoire, right?"

"Yes, my family has one locked up somewhere in our house, my mother also has the Prewett grimoire...why?"

"So that's two...but why is there one here with the name 'Weasley' on it?"

He handed it to Percy.

Percy took the book and stared at it in shock.

"Is it a double of the one you have at home?"

"No...no." He replied slowly. "I've seen the one I have at home only a couple times before. It is bound in tawny leather, has my family name in gold lettering and has a feather of a Pegasus sticking out of it. It also contains a bunch of 'Light-oriented' spells and other things. This however...is in black leather, has my family name in silver lettering and has what looks like some runes carved into the spine. I'm starting to think the one my family has either isn't the real one or this is just one half of a whole thing. You found one with my name, what others do you see?"

Colin turned back to the chest and continued pulling out books.

"So far, we have 'Creevey', 'Finch', 'Fletchley', 'Smith' and 'Weasley'. Now we have ...'Wood', 'Macmillan', 'Bones', 'Abbott', 'Flint'.." Percy froze at that. 'Flint...Wood? They have more than one, too?' "Hm..we also have 'Higgs', 'McLaggen', 'Lovegood', 'Montague', 'Bletchley', 'Bole', 'Warrington', 'Longbottom' and 'Pucey'. And that's it, no more grimoires."

Zacharias asked the million-galleon question. "Ok, we know Dumbledore said there were no records, but we found them. Yay us...but what I'm wondering is why the fuck does HE have OURS in HIS possession, not to mention, all these others? Each family only has one, right?"

Percy nodded and looked over all these books. "Yes, it would become too complicated and confusing if there were multiple grimoires for every wizarding family. I'm not sure why Dumbledore has all of these locked away...but I have a feeling we're about to find out. But first...we need to show the others...and yes, even those Slytherins named off. We owe it to them and plus knowing most of them..the Slytherins, anyway..they despise Dumbledore, there is no way in hell they would allow him to have their families' grimoires in his grasp."

Dennis looked up. "That's great, really..but how do you suppose we haul around over a dozen huge books without drawing attention? People will notice, you know."

"That's precisely why I always carry a small enchanted bag with me." Percy pulled it out of his robe pocket. It was burgundy with silver straps. "This bag will allow us to fit them in with no problems, it also has a 'Feather-light' charm so we wont have to worry about it being heavy." He demonstrated by packing them into the bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"I always did wonder how a weakling like you managed to carry around so many books." Zacharias said.

Percy ignored the comment, "Let's head back. You guys gather the others while I go round up Flint and his crew. I have a feeling we'll all be having a long discussion."

They put the chest back to where it was and left the rest of the room untouched. Colin and the gang shut the door, walked down through the passage and into the hall. They had a meeting to prepare.

* * *

"John, are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yes. These children deserve to know everything."

"But aren't you afraid something will go wrong? What if Dumbledore catches them?"

"Weasley won't let that happen. I've watched him before. He knows how to bend the rules better than the trouble makers."

"I just don't want to see everything erupt into chaos. These children don't need to repeat history."

"They won't. Trust me."

**Let me know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the late update! I am on vacation and I refuse to pay for Wifi...but I'm at a relative's house, I don't feel good, but I wanted to update for you guys. Thank you so much for sticking around! And thank you so much for the reviews! You guys are awesome! And as a thank you for your awesomeness and my lateness, this chapter is a bit longer than all the others! Enjoy!**

**P.S. This chapter introduces slash (male/male, female/female relationships). If you don't like any of that, please leave and don't be rude.**

After they left the hall, they followed Percy's instructions to go to the third floor, west wing and tap on the red shield on the wall, which he said would become their meeting place. They split up at the Great Hall to gather everyone. Colin and Dennis went forward to Gryffindor Tower, Justin and Zacharias to the left near the kitchens, toward the badger hole and Percy to the right, heading down to the dungeons.

At Gryffindor Tower, the Common Room was occupied, as per usual, with the Golden Trio, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Ginny Weasley, and a couple other Gryffindor girls sitting around laughing, with some playing a game of exploding snap. Colin and Dennis strode past the crowd to the Fourth Year Boy's dormitory. Cormac was checking himself out in the mirror, nothing unusual there, and Neville was sitting on his bed, reading a book on magical plants found in Asia.

Colin spoke "Guys, I need you to come with me. Where's Oliver? I need him to come too."

Cormac turned from his reflection, gorgeous as it was. "He's in his room, devising strategies for the next several games. What is it that you need to talk about? Can't we stay here?"

Neville looked up from his book. "What's wrong? Did Ron or somebody say something off to you again?"

Colin sighed. "No, it's not that at all. We're gonna meet Justin and the others on the third floor, Percy will be there too. We can't stay here since Harry or any of the guys are liable to walk in at any minute and we don't need them or Hermione sticking their noses where it doesn't belong. We've...found out some things that we think you should know about. Come on, just act natural and we should be fine."

Cormac raised an eyebrow and shrugged "Okay."

Neville put down his book and followed them out, silently agreeing with Colin. _'He's right about them. Especially about Hermione, she tends to draw too many conclusions and assumes she's always right. She's nice sometimes, but that can really wear on a guy's nerves. Heaven forbid I say anything or get chewed out. Who is she, my Gran?'_

Cormac pulled Oliver out of the sixth-year boys' dorm, much to his chagrin. He bribed Oliver with trying out his signature Quaffle out on the pitch, so that brought him from his bed. The five of them passed through the Common Room, without so much as drawing a quick glance from the others occupying the space. No one paid them much attention unless it had to do with a Quidditch game, a fight concerning one of them or if they were in direct line of sight. It was an advantage when there was no game or if you didn't hang around the Golden Trio.

* * *

Down in the Hufflepuff Common room, Justin and Zacharias were rounding up Ernie and the others. Luna was down there visiting Susan and Hannah so that spared them a trip to Ravenclaw territory or hunting around the grounds for her. It was two birds with one stone! They questioned Justin and Zacharias, wondering what was going on, Susan being the most vocal.

"I take it there definitely is no assignment, I knew it. So, what's going on?" She faced Justin. "You're never this secretive except for that time you and Ernie were sneaking around together...before you both came out to us."

"We'll tell you once we meet Colin and the others up on the third floor. Don't tell anyone where we're going. We don't have all day."

Susan watched as he and Zacharias strode out into the hall, with Ernie and Luna following in tow. Susan and Hannah followed close behind.

Hannah looked to Susan. "Is something wrong? I hope nobody is in danger.."

Susan looked back at her girlfriend from the corner of her eye. "I don't think it's that dire...but whatever it is, it must be very important to have round all of us up."

Hannah simply nodded in uncertainty as they continued their trek up to the third floor.

* * *

Meanwhile, down in the dungeons, a long way off from the Slytherin Common room, Percy was strolling around in the dark and damp corridors, searching for that gargantuan of a Chaser, Marcus Flint. _'That boy is six-foot seven with muscles bulging every which way. He is NOT that hard to miss.'_ He stopped at a random closet door and muttered to himself.

"Where are you, Flint?"

"Speak the name of the Devil and he shall appear." A deep, rough voice sounded behind him.

It caused Percy to jump and strangely, send shivers up his spine. Flint laughed at his display.

"Flint...just the man I wanted to see. I need you and your..horde..to accompany me. And no, McGonagall doesn't need to see you."

Flint snorted. "I figured as much since we haven't misbehaved in quite some time, surprisingly enough. Have you found out anything...interesting..as of yet, Weasley?" He flashed a mischievous grin, baring sharp, crooked teeth and all. His eerie, ice blue eyes boring into Percy's sapphire. Percy narrowed his eyes at him.

"What do you mean by that question, Flint?"

Marcus lightly gazed at him "I think you know what I mean...you're not a stupid man."

Before Percy could respond to the man that towered five inches over him, he heard voices and footsteps coming down the corridor. It was Marcus's crew-Adrian Pucey, Graham Montague, fellow Chasers. With them, their beaters, Lucian Bole and Cassius Warrington. And finally, their Keeper and former seeker, Miles Bletchley and Terence Higgs.

"Yo Flint!...and...Weasley..what a surprise." Adrian chuckled. "Looking for us? How sweet."

They circled around him like wolves, ready for the kill. Flint turned to his friends. "I told you he'd come down the Snake Pit soon enough. Apparently, he needs us to come with him...to where?" He looked at Percy for an answer.

Percy swallowed hard, "Third floor, west wing. I'll need you to come with me since I can get you into the room."

"Sounds like the Room of Requirement near the ground floor.." Bletchley responded, tapping his temple near a lock of his short, red hair. The Weasleys and Susan Bones weren't the only redheads in Hogwarts. (His hair was predominantly carrot orange, with copper highlights and crimson undertones. Miles was also lightly tanned, no where near as freckled and stood at about 5'9'' or 5'10'', also stocky and heavily muscled, so no one could even mistake him for being a Weasley.)

Percy, standing his ground, wary of them, replied. "Yes, just like that room, except it's up there. It's not the only Room of Requirement in this place, contrary to what everyone else says, at least those who know about it. They never bothered to look."

There were advantages to being Prefect other than it looking good on resumes and being an authority figure. No place was off limits, to Percy anyway. Montague smirked at Percy and watched him with eyes so dark blue, they were thought to be black.

"Only you would be thorough enough to inspect the entire grounds.." He walked, or practically slithered his way closer as he spoke. It was in a rather seductive fashion, almost vampiric. Graham did have the appearance of one..sort of. Short, midnight black hair, ivory skin that could have passed for porcelain, rather pointy canines and a piercing gaze but possessed a tall, lean and muscular frame. A very handsome young man. He was often nick-named "the Other Dungeon Bat" by the twins.

Percy felt him creep up and slightly stiffened, but not enough to show movement. He had to keep a calm façade at all times. A Slytherin custom, after all. No one wants to have a weakness spotted.

"True, but at least I've managed to find places that will keep you out sight when you happen to roam around after hours, not even the Twins know about them. But that is a story for another day. Let's go. We have...things..to discuss." Percy pulled his bag tightly to himself and strode past them, leading Flint and his crew. Flint was strangely following a little too close for comfort, then again, he liked making people uncomfortable.

* * *

It wasn't long until Colin and the other Gryffindor boys made it to the third floor staircase. They met Justin and the others who came up from the southern hall. They hung around until all the other passersby left the area.

"All right. Up the stairs we go." Dennis said.

The two groups walked up the long flight and down the west wing, careful to not draw any sort of attention; they were treading up a forbidden hall for Merlin's sake. They took a right down a dimly lit corridor, lined with shields, statues that whispered and the portrait of a wolf and owl, looking down upon them from their perch.

"Now look for a red shield." Colin instructed. Everyone searched until a ruby-red shield, adorned in jewels caught their eyes.

"I believe this is it...now he said to tap on it."

Colin did just that and the wall disappeared, revealing a red, mahogany wooden door that opened for the gang. They stepped into a large, candle-lit room. It looked as though no one has used it in years, considering the dust and cobwebs littering the place.

"Gross..." Hannah muttered as she cast a cleaning spell that banished any trace of grime and dust. She was a bit of a neat freak. "That's better." She smiled as she sat upon a leather armchair, pleased with herself.

Luna looked around the area. The walls had reliefs of a phoenix, owls, wolves, and other animals associated with truth, wisdom, mystery and other admirable traits carved into them. There was also a carving believed to be that of Merlin surrounded by fairy folk. The high ceiling and floor being of smooth swirled marble and a fireplace to the right, now lit up to warm the room. '_How lovely..'_ she mused.

"The nargles have been behaving quite nicely lately..." She reported in her usual airy tone.

Colin glanced at her and the door. "Speaking of...where's Percy and the others?"

"What others?" Ernie questioned.

Before Colin could answer that, the door opened revealing Percy, Flint and his men trailing behind them.

"Aw hell...really, Percy?" Ernie groaned.

"Really. They're a part of this too, that is why I brought them." He retorted in a clipped tone and sat down on one of the chairs in the center of the room.

"Everyone have a seat, please."

Those who remained standing obeyed, sitting down in silence.

"Can someone please go ahead and tell us what the bloody hell we're doing here, already? Gettin' sick of the suspense." Cormac grit out, irritably.

"I'm just about to do that.." Percy took his bag and set it on the table in front of them. He stood up and faced the crowd, addressing everyone in the room. "Now, Colin, Dennis, Justin, Zacharias and myself have called you here today to hopefully clear up a mystery that we can't seem to solve. And we have come across a few items that could be of interest to all of you." He gestured to the bag as the group looked at him in curiosity, all except for Flint and his crew. They seemed to be a little blasé about the entire situation. Percy vaguely wondered why that was for a brief moment, before he continued.

"It is a known fact that practically every Pureblood family and some Half-bloods possess a source of family magic, most notably, a grimoire. Some are still either in possession by current members or lost in time when lines died out...or are presumed missing through mysterious circumstances. With that point, I ask this: Are all of you sure that your families' grimoires are complete or the real thing?"

Cormac snorted. "Of course mine is. Dad has it locked up somewhere. Why you even ask?"

Ernie chimed in "Is this why you brought us here? To talk about our grimoires? There's no way you have what's already sealed away at our houses or in our vaults." He crossed his arms disbelievingly.

Colin interrupted. "That's exactly what he has. But we didn't go to your house or vault..or whatever to obtain them. We found them here...I've even found one with mine and Dennis's last name on it, not to mention, two for Justin and one for Zacharias. If you don't believe us, then I will show you."

He walked over to the table and grabbed Percy's bag. He began to pull out one grimoire after another. First 'Creevey', 'Finch', 'Fletchley', and 'Smith' to prove it. Susan gazed in awe at their grimoires.

"Even Muggleborns can acquire their grimoires through the Ministry, although it's uncommon for many to even get them since they have to go through so much legal crap...and because of those in office who don't particularly care for Muggleborns. I can't believe you guys found yours and with no trouble. Where exactly did you find them here?" She queried.

"A secret room behind Dumbledore's office."

"But how did you-"

"What does this have to do with us, though?" Ernie snapped.

Hannah smacked him on the back of the head, shutting him up. "He's getting to it! Continue, you guys."

"Thank you, Hannah. There's more where these came from." Colin subsequently pulled out the rest of the grimoires, setting them along the table in a line. 'Abbott', 'McLaggen', 'Bones', 'Montague', 'Flint', 'Macmillan', 'Pucey', 'Higgs', 'Wood', 'Bletchley', 'Bole', 'Longbottom', 'Warrington', Lovegood' and last but not least 'Weasley'.

The room went silent. Everyone was staring at the grimoires. Neville was the first to stand and walk over to the table. His fingers grazed across the leather and vine-lined binding.

"I can't believe this...this one looks just like the one my Gran has in our vault. But this one is dark blue, not light red like the one we have." He looked at everyone around him, then back to his grimoire. "If this is my family's grimoire or at least another one, why didn't my Gran tell me?...or...why does Dumbledore even have this?"

"That's exactly what I wanna know." Cormac stormed up next to him, grabbing the mysterious 'McLaggen' grimoire.

Ernie, Susan, Hannah, Oliver and Luna walked over to retrieve theirs as well, looking over them in shock and fascination.

"I..I don't know what to say.." Ernie muttered softly.

"That's a first." chirped Zacharias

Oliver turned toward Percy "Perce..how?...why?...what else do you know?"

"Unfortunately, nothing else I'm afraid. That's what we're trying to figure out." Percy sighed.

Susan looked up from her book. "Can I ask you something?...what led to all this? I mean, were you guys roaming around school and you just so happened to find your grimoires? You've never expressed wanting to find them before."

Colin rubbed his hands in thought before he sat down. "What inspired the little hunt was a few choice words Malfoy and Parkinson left us."

He glanced momentarily at Flint and then at Bletchley, who merely shrugged silently. He continued. "After calling Justin, Zacharias, Dennis and myself 'pathetic wastes of space', 'good-for-nothing-pieces-of-rubbish', the classic 'mudblood' and saying that 'it's a shame that people like us possess magic' and that we're 'the weaker species'...I found myself wondering about where I got my magic from. It must have come from an ancestor somehow, so me and the guys decided to go look. First we tried the library, nothing. Not a damn thing in the archives. So we tried Dumbledore, but that was a big mistake."

"Of course he was, the fucker lied!" Dennis shouted.

Hannah jumped at Dennis's shouting while Adrian and Terence merely smirked in amusement.

"Merlin! You don't need to shout!..and how did Dumbledore lie?"

"Easy, one word-hesitation." Dennis stood and walked over, sitting on the table watching everyone carefully, his normally shifty sky blue eyes in complete attention.

"Colin asked Dumblefuck...I mean, Dumbledore if he knew where we could find any of our family's records and he regaled us with a story of how 'there were no records', 'record keeping was not the Wizengamot's forte in its infancy'...and 'blah blah' you get the point. That man stopped twinkling and smiling ever so slightly and it was almost a full minute of silence before he responded. Percy even confirmed it! I mean, people crack on him for reading his books on the Ministry almost a hundred times, calling it useless and boring, well it proved our 'beloved' headmaster a liar too, other than his own actions. Even Percy said Dumbledore was a liar, Colin heard the words come out of his own mouth!"

Colin nodded truthfully.

"Is that why you kept your voice down when you talked to Colin early this morning?" Susan asked curiously.

"Yes. I said Dumbledore was a liar. The pompous, perfect, Prefect Percy Weasley called our headmaster a 'liar'. I kept my voice down because I didn't want everyone else to hear me due to the fact an entire shit storm would have rained down upon me and frankly, I didn't want to hear it! I didn't want to hear Ron, Hermione or anyone else try to scold me and call me a 'sodding git'. I get that enough here every day and at home." Percy exclaimed, showing a little more emotion than normal, even to the Slytherins' surprise although they didn't show it.

"I don't understand..." Hannah spoke up. "Why would Dumbledore lie about your families? I thought he'd be glad to help any Muggleborn student out. You knew nothing of this world and what made you a part of it...he kept you guys in the dark. What was the point in that? He could have easily taken you to the Ministry and helped with the legal work."

"He could have, but he didn't, now did he?" Justin snapped. "What I want to know is why?! What could possibly be the reason as to why he hid something so important from us?" He looked over everyone in irritation, then over to the Slytherins accompanying them, who were silent and looking rather calm throughout this entire endeavor. They didn't even blink when their grimoires were brought out. "How the hell are all of you so calm about this? Dumbledore has YOUR grimoires, for Christ's sake and last time I checked, neither of you are fond of him. So why aren't you wondering why he has your things?!"

"Yes..why is that, Flint?" Percy eyed Marcus suspiciously.

"If you'd calm down that rabid Badger of yours, I'd be happy to explain." Flint returned coolly.

Justin sneered at him and took his seat.

Flint rose from his seat and paced back and forth before turning to the others. "My friends and I are rather calm because we were once in the same boat as you, although it was years ago. Our parents told us about our families' grimoires being here and about all of yours as well. But as a stipulation of revealing that information to us, we were not allowed to say anything to you, even when you came to Hogwarts...and if some of you..ever came at all." His eyes focusing on Colin, Dennis, Justin and Zacharias as he said this. "Weasley.." He locked eyes with Percy as he sauntered up to him. "What if I told you that your family..and all the others here...weren't as Light-leaning as you thought they were?" He awaited Percy to respond.

"I'd say that would be hard to prove...even though I've had my suspicions." He stared right back into Marcus's icy orbs. "My family has been nothing but Light...I have yet to have heard otherwise."

"Now you have. Believe it or not, you've had some Dark ancestors in the Weasley line, the most recent one being a little over thousand years ago. A century or so before Hogwarts was even built. The last one to have this...in his possession." He pointed to the black Weasley grimoire.

Flint turned to look at everyone else in the room, "As a matter of fact, every single one of us is a descendant of the Dark."

**The next chapter will be posted very very soon! I promise! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

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_'Dark magic? So that's what's in this grimoire?'_ Percy thought as he gazed over at the large tome. He turned back to Flint as he continued explaining.

"The others, like your ancestor, were from predominantly Light families themselves but were the black sheep, just like you. Abbott, Macmillan, McLaggen, Wood, Bones, Lovegood and Longbottom...every single last one of them, had a few Dark Wizards and Witches. The same as Smith, Finch, Fletchley and Creevey. They were also mostly Light-leaning, just like my family and theirs." He nodded over in his friends' direction. They were watching and listening intently.

"Our ancestors were part of a group called 'the Dark Ones'. They were a group of nineteen people, some of their other family members were involved but they were the main leaders. They were deep into the Dark Arts. Our ancestors have crafted some of the most dangerous and lethal spells, potions and artifacts in Wizarding history. For example, you know the three Unforgiveables? Contrary to popular belief, their creators were not unknown. Abbott, your family developed the Imperius Curse."

She stared at him in astonishment, she couldn't believe something so dark could come from her line.

"Smith, yours...Cruciatus and Weasley, the Killing Curse. Your ancestor, came up with that rather nifty spell the Dark Lord favored."

"No fucking way..." Smith sat back, wide-eyed in his seat.

Percy stood there, frozen. He couldn't believe what he was hearing...but a part of him...a tiny part felt that there was truth in Flint's words, no matter how crazy they sounded now. Stranger things have happened in the Wizarding World and things have remained hidden from the public for Merlin knows what reason..what's to say that this isn't one of them? He decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, although naturally suspicious of people as he was.

"Fiendfyre, came from the Fletchley family, and the Disembowelment Curse came from the Finch line. Creevey, however...this one ancestor of yours came with an interesting ,albeit, an extremely illegal and deadly spell. It's called the 'Dawn of Ashes' curse. When it is used on a victim, it produces internal hemorrhaging then burning and reduces them to ashes from the inside out. It's sort of compared to using 'Incendio' on someone multiple times, but is indeed way fucking worse."

Colin and Dennis gaped at that.

"Whoa...who'd have thought something like that could have come from our family...and I thought knowing some of my family was all Dark was the clencher?" Colin muttered in surprise. "Is that the reason why Dumbledore didn't tell us? I mean, I get why about the spells...but-" Colin didn't finish. He felt deep down, that there was more to this.

"Partially." Flint responded calmly. "That's one reason he kept quiet and sealed away the grimoires. The others; however, are more difficult to explain. You must take into account, that even though those particular spells and other things our families created are extremely dangerous, they were meant only to be used as the absolute last resort if something terrible was to happen.

"This is the part where you must forget everything you've learned so far about Dark Magic. Unlike what the leaders of the Light have drilled into your heads over the course of your life and the years you've been here at Hogwarts, Dark Magic does not mean that it is evil magic. What differentiates it from Light magic are its methods and techniques. Both sides of magic work toward a common goal, although wielders may have another agenda entirely. Honestly, this is one reason why the Dark Arts are vastly misunderstood or ever hated for that matter. Their methods of either spell-crafting, warding, potion-brewing, anything in magical practice... are not so conventional and can be downright frightening, especially to those who are afraid or who don't understand Dark magic. Another is that some Dark wizards, most notoriously, Lord Voldemort...used the old ways to unleash terror during the war. He gives people like us a bad a name and provides reason to people like Dumbledore and his followers to preach against us. I know this is hard to hear...and if none of you believe me...well, I've never given any of you reason to trust me...I'll let you speak to those who you can believe. Montague, if you will..."

He gestured to Graham, who stood and walked over to the books left on the table. He accioed the rest of the grimoires from the other Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs who were holding them.

"What do you plan on doing?" Cormac asked.

"You'll find out shortly." He turned to see that it was Cassius Warrington who responded, his head propped upon his hand as he sat on an armchair.

After Graham summoned the tomes, he transfigured the long table into a large round one and laid the books down upon it, all in a circle. He began to draw runes with his wand, muttering incantations as he walked around the table three times, clockwise. A bright, blue light emitted from the runes drawn in midair, growing brighter as the grimoires below them began glowing themselves but in a green light. A gust of wind blew through the room, making the books fly open, flipping pages rapidly then sending the room into total darkness. It was mere seconds before candlelight and the fire returned in the hearth. To their shock, nineteen individuals stood before them, a mixture of men and women (fourteen men, five women to be exact), varying in height and styles of Dark Age clothing. They were all in between the ages of eighteen to twenty-two and looked to be near-carbon copies of the students in the room, also appearing as solid as the marble floor.

Percy and the others gazed upon these people in utter fascination. '_These spirits...they look alive. Those were some pretty high-level summoning spells Montague cast. I don't even think they teach those here at Hogwarts...maybe they're from his grimoire?'_

Colin slowly walked up to one, this spirit being the one he saw in his dream. _'Longer blonde hair, sky blue eyes...same facial features...but much taller.'_ The blonde man looked down and smiled.

"Hello, Colin...hello Dennis." his voice deep, in an Irish brogue.

He gazed at Colin and his brother, who looked positively dumbfounded. _'That voice..'_

"You...you're that voice I heard in the hall...and in my dream...you're that guy."

The man laughed lightly. "My name is John. John Creevey. 'Tis wonderful that I finally get to converse with my descendants somewhere other than the Dreamworld."

"How come...how come you've never come to us before? We could have needed you, you know."

John smiled sadly to Colin. "I've always been there, watching over my family. I've wanted to tell you sooner, but it wouldn't have ended well for you. About two hundred and fifty years after my death, I tried talking with one of my non-magical descendants and he talked back. But the villagers deemed him insane and he was sent away back to Ireland, with most of our family. He's lucky he wasn't executed. Back then, so much sent one to their death. Ever since you and Dennis were born, I knew there was magic in both of you, I could feel it...even in this ethereal form of mine. I had to wait until you were older to know the truth, that is why I came to you in your dream...and that is why Dorian's descendant summoned us."

He looked to Graham Montague, who stood silently across from his ancestor Dorian, actually smiling. That's something people don't see too often unless it's at a joke, at others' sheer stupidity or in the privacy of the dorm room.

Percy rose from his silence. "What is the truth, exactly? What happened that was so troublesome that called for the confiscation of all our grimoires? And the talk of Dark Arts not being evil in itself? Although I do understand the concept."

"And you will understand the situation even further..."

The man on John's right responded. He was tall and lanky with long, curly crimson hair, freckled and had those same sapphire blue eyes. His robes matched the shade of his eyes and his demeanor matched that of Percy's. Cunning, aloof, suspicious and a little prim. He could nearly pass off as Percy's twin brother. There was no doubt, this man was a Weasley. The red haired man stepped out of the line, silently observing the group in front of him, he turned to Percy.

"Percival, I am Adrastos Darragh Weasley, the ancestor your family never speaks of. Long have I awaited for someone in this ancient house to actually question his family's loyalties, even if silently. You and the rest should heed Marcus's words for he speaks the truth. He learned such from us. We have shown them what we're about to show you. We will take you back in time, but be warned, this is only a memory. Whatever happens, you cannot interfere. Your presence will be unknown to them. I will tell you now...you will not like what you see." Percy looked to the others as they watched from their seats.

Susan piped up "How will you do this?"

A woman with long, braided red hair and standing at about 5 feet, 4 inches smiled reassuringly to her. "You will see, I promise you'll all be fine. It's a simple Memory transporting charm...well...simple for us, anyway. It will transport your bodies to our memories while still allowing the time frame to remain intact. You will not have to worry about jeopardizing the future."

"Now that you've been debriefed... I, John Raphael Creevey swear on my ancient house and even in death, that what is revealed unto all of you will be nothing but the absolute truth. So mote it be."

"So mote it be." The others repeated, their ethereal wands out, tips glowing with spectral energy.

Before John cast the charm he spoke in a low voice, "Prepare yourselves..."

He waited as the teens all rose to their feet, awaiting transportation.

With a wave of his wand, "Praeteritum memoria iter itineris!"***** and everyone disappeared with a flash. A swirl of colors, and a vast collection of images passed before their eyes in rapid succession until they were standing upright upon solid earth. They gazed about them- A large forest littered with stone dwellings, little villages surrounding the area. People walked around in various robes, cloaks, tunics, long gowns and other garments. How one could tell they were in a wizarding area, the citizens had their wands by their waists, using magic to help with chores outside of the buildings and the word "muggle" was being used liberally. The air was colder, trees were turning colors, autumn was already in session. The sun was setting quickly, casting a golden light across the edge of the forest. Night would soon be upon them.

***"Praeteritum memoria iter itineris": "Past memory journey" Praeteritum- past, memoria-memory, iter itineris-journey.**

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	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter! Thank you all for reading! :D**

"So this is what the Dark Ages looks like...reminds me of scenes in movies and ancient drawings in museums." Justin commented, gazing about.

"Yes it does, doesn't it?" A towering man with dark brown, shoulder length hair, wearing a pine colored robe, smiled down to him.

"He has Justin's same blue-grey eyes...and he's a spitting image of this man..." Ernie mused as he watched them interact.

"Alright, now this is the night where it all begins." Colin's ancestor, John announced. "Follow us and whatever may seem cryptic, we will elaborate. This way..." He pointed down a darkened road with what appeared to be a tavern sitting at the end.

Several people were slurring, laughing and carrying on with their personal celebration inside and outside of the place. The group walked over the stone threshold, into the tavern. It was enormous on the inside, with a stone and wooden interior. Tapestries depicting tales of wizards and creatures lined the walls, barrels of ale and other miscellaneous alcoholic beverages were in the back and tables littered the ground floor. There weren't too many inside the pub at this hour, except for four familiar faces and two teenage boys. Even in the Dark Ages, teenagers were considered to be adults and could go into taverns just as any grown man or woman. Although, women still veered away from them since it was deemed unladylike to trespass into that area and it was asking for trouble because of drunken men.

"Now watch and listen carefully." John whispered as the rest looked on.

The two teenage wizards three tables away from the familiar four were having an animate discussion. The caramel-haired boy was looking back and forth between them.

"Why don't we go forth and question them? I believe they have the answers we seek."

"We don't need to bring attention to ourselves." His flaxen haired, stocky friend in a grey tunic replied, "The Ministry doesn't like them and has sent out warnings to be wary of them. We should listen."

"But you've said yourself that you've wanted to know why the Minister and everyone else over there always say 'to never trust the Dark ways' or that 'No self-respecting Wizard or Witch should immerse themselves into those unclean arts!' We were told that they were supposedly unclean, but we were never told why. Don't you think it's strange that the Ministry is being vague about a potential threat?"

"Well, yes."

"So why not find out what exactly is so bad about them?!" He exclaimed with a goofy grin on his face. "I don't see any harm in asking for a simple explanation."

His companion sighed in defeat. "Fine. We'll ask. After you, my rambunctious friend."

He motioned to his friend to get out of his seat and they both walked somewhat apprehensively to the table several feet away.

"E-Excuse us, we were hoping to ask you...why does the Light say that we should avoid any magic or anyone who veers toward the Dark? Nobody will give us an answer." The caramel-haired boy questioned.

One of the four, a light blonde haired man, John Creevey, to be exact, sat down his goblet of mead and faced those innocent boys.

"Have a seat." He flicked his wand, summoning two chairs behind them.

Their guests sat down.

"The answers are quite simple in themselves. The differences between Light and Dark magic are not as complex as others make it appear. Light and Dark magic both work toward a common goal, to cause an event or change one. Although, some Dark methods aren't as socially acceptable as ones that reside in the Light."

"Like...blood rituals...and venturing into the Underworld?"

"Those are some of the more darker aspects, yes. A few more are the practices of necromancy and human sacrifice. Those are more misunderstood and are reserved for problems dealing with malevolent, otherworldly beings where these actions call for it. Sometimes, in order to completely end an issue, a greater price must be paid. Even if it means forfeiting your soul and living as a hollow shell or leaving this earthly realm forever. Some other darker practices are in the ways of potion making and healing. For example, you cannot use your own blood in a mixture of rose petals, phoenix tears and basilisk venom in order to reverse the effects of a complex Life-Draining potion. You must use the blood of a young child or an infant out of the womb in order for it to work effectively. This is because an infant or child is new life, still in the beginning cycles. They've had no time to damage their bodies and the magical essence in their blood is at its liveliest, less controlled.

"People find it barbaric to use their blood in any sort of concoction, that's why it's more acceptable for the potion brewer to use his or her own. Unfortunately, not every brew works that way. If you use your own blood, you'll kill the patient faster, even instantly, depending on how much one's lifeforce has already been drained. There have been a couple cases when a Life-Draining potion was used to assassinate people in various councils in England; one was here a couple years past. The Healers tried nearly every potion they had, but nothing worked so far. I was walking to a pond not too far from here and I overheard those Healers and a seasoned Auror discussing the issue and possible ingredient combinations. I told them that 'blood of a young child or infant must be used with those, if not, he'll die.' They scolded me and threatened to 'hex me if I did not leave their presence immediately' and that they'll 'find their own remedy without the help of a lowly Dark knave.' I obeyed and went on my way. Their council leader died three days later. All because they refused to listen."

The flaxen-haired teenager muttered aloud "I remember hearing about it...that was most unfortunate. But...does the child or infant die in this process?"

"No, absolutely not. A small incision is made in order to draw out their blood. We don't kill them, like rumor has it."

"What about for destructive spells? Why are some more lethal than most?" The caramel-haired boy wriggled in his seat, fascinated with this information.

A crimson-haired man with sapphire eyes, Adrastos Weasley, at John's right spoke "Our destructive spells have more power to them in order to effectively take down an enemy in a timely fashion such as in times of war or when you're up against inhuman entities. Due to the treaties between the various species and Wizarding humans, we only use them against those who are evil renegades, who committed crimes against their clans and humanity in general...and if their Elders can't seem to get a hold of them, they send out word and the deed is done. The only stipulation is if they attack us first. In the case of warfare and death is imminent, a person has the right to defend his or herself, even if it means killing the perpetrator. It's an implied concept but what the Light doesn't understand is that simple to medium strength, even advanced Light-oriented cutting, blasting, shielding, disarming and stinging spells, even Stunners aren't enough when facing hundreds of warriors or smaller groups who are highly skilled in Darker magic and can evade anything you throw at them. If they're coming all at once, using spells that are more likely to exsanguinate you, slice you in half or blow you to pieces, you will need to vanquish them all at once before they can do serious damage. In short, our spells are used as the absolute last resort when prospects of extreme danger and possible death are unavoidable. Never on a whim. With great power, comes with great responsibility."

"Light spells can't always negate Dark spells..so 'tis better to defend using those of the same caliber..." The caramel-haired boy surmised.

"Correct." agreed Adrastos Weasley as he sipped his mead.

"Why haven't you told them all of this?"

"We've tried."

The boy turned to face a dark-brown haired man in a pine colored robe sitting across from him.

"We've tried but they chose not to listen. They figure that since they've won battles and performed many heroic deeds with Light magic, they don't need to know anything else. They prefer the comfort of past success and think that regardless of the situation, they can solve any problem with the same, safe methods."

" 'Tis a shame, really." A man with sandy-blonde hair in a reddish-brown robe, their fourth, decided to join the conversation. "The Ministry would rather risk the lives of their faithful followers and utilize weak and potentially useless techniques and be proclaimed fallen heroes than to swallow their pride and use 'other' means that can allow them to live another day." He shook his head rather morosely.

The flaxen-haired teenager narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't sound like a wise decision on the Ministry's part. Are they so disbelieving that what you do can actually benefit mankind, both Wizarding and...I can assume...Muggle?"

"Of course. Our work can benefit the Muggles as well. Our potions can cure their kinds of diseases and heal their wounds, so they don't die from a simple infected cut." John responded. "Even though we use Dark magic, we're still healers, herbologists, teachers and protectors like those who are of the Light. We have values, feelings and other good qualities just like everyone else. However, don't forget that there have been people that used our ways for evil, and there are those out there who still make the wrong decisions. Please, do not let them sway you into lumping all of us together. We're not all rotten apples and we're not the only Dark practitioners in Britain or the known world. Beware though, there are Light leaders who aren't what they truly appear. I don't know which side you two follow or even if you have one at all, but I plead that you should never fear what you don't understand. Keep an open mind for it is better than a closed one." John smiled kindly to them as he finished his explanation.

The teenage wizards returned the smile and rose from their seats.

"I think we've gotten the answer we were looking for. Thank you all and we bid goodnight to you." The caramel-haired boy grinned happily as he dragged his equally content comrade out of the tavern and down the road, heading home.

The four watched in amusement as they left. The dark brunette laughed "It's wonderful to see younger wizards that are curious and not so blind. I hope we've bestowed a little wisdom upon their heads."

Adrastos finished the last of his mead "I believe we have, Adam. Maybe more will surely open their eyes. Only time will tell. It doesn't hurt to have some faith, you know."

The brunette, now Adam, agreed. The four continued their banter and sipping on mead as the night led on.

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	9. Chapter 9

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After the end of Adrastos's sentence, Justin spoke "Blood of an infant or young child? An ingredient to use in the antidote for a 'Life-Draining' potion? Really?...I've heard of some pretty interesting things as potion ingredients but never that. Now I see why none of the potion books in the library have it listed. I know that human blood can have a significant impact on different brews, but no human blood THAT specific." He tilted his head in a pondering fashion.

"The use of human infant blood does sound unappealing..." he turned to a beautiful, silvery-blonde haired, mercury-eyed woman with wisteria vines braided into her waist length locks. She also had an airy tone to her voice. "...but it is a very important component of the antidote. Without it, the remedy will fail and death will be the result." She twirled a lock of her hair in between her fingers, admiring the wisteria blossoms.

"Artemis is a master potions brewer, she knows her ingredients." Adrastos mentioned. "Potions is one of your best subjects, isn't it, Colin?"

Dennis nudged him in the ribs. Colin playfully smacked his arm. "Yes, indeed it is. I also agree that it's unappealing but extremely important. Hell, powdered lungs of a crow and moist chicken entrails aren't that appetizing either. And a bezoar is found in the stomach of a goat for God's sake and we use it to counteract numerous poisons! Gross or not, if it works-use it."

"They even said that the infant or child doesn't die from the procedure, although it hurts for only a few seconds. The same applies to the potion brewer when they have to add their own blood. Some ingredients must be extracted from a being dead or alive...regardless of the potion we're making. I've read that in some potions book I found at Flourish and Blotts over in Diagon Alley. It's basic potion rules. I totally get it." Susan added.

Cormac looked to Adrastos "For killing only renegade creatures, like an evil vampire for instance, how can a human wizard possibly kill something that has amazing speed?"

"Very, very quickly." A deep, rough voice behind him answered.

He turned to see a man close to Marcus's height and extremely similar in appearance gazing down at him. Cormac raised an eyebrow that said 'Explain.'

"I was on a journey to a village several miles from here when one tried to attack me and the man I was traveling with. I sliced him into several pieces. I would have blown him to smithereens but his Elders needed evidence that he was dead...most do." He shrugged calmly as Cormac nodded.

"I see, damn."

Neville piped up "Even back in this time the Ministry emphasized Light over Dark spells to solve their problems...but I've seen examples in our Defense books and they aren't so Light themselves, but not extremely Dark. Why is that?"

"We'll get to that eventually, we're not through here." John announced to the group and gestured them to leave the tavern.

They followed him and the other eighteen leaders as they stepped outside. It was pitch black with a lone torch lighting the village square.

"We will now move to the next day, this is where things pick up."

With a wave of his wand it was daylight, the sunlight beating down upon them.

It was approximately midday and people were bustling about, conversing and doing business with fellow wizards. The two teenage boys from the tavern last night were re-telling their tale about their visit with a few of the Dark Ones to a tiny congregation standing around a cart of fruit. Some faces revealed amazement, and sheer curiosity while one or two showed indifference. Behind Colin and his group, they could hear some adults, three of them near thirty years of age talking. They turned to listen.

"What if everything the Dark Ones said is true? What if we're wrong about them and the Ministry is negligent?"

"Don't repeat such talk! What if one of Dumbledore's aurors hear you? The last thing we need is to be under their suspicion!"

The youngest of the three retorted "Well I don't know about you, but I think that the Dark Ones may have a good idea. I see nothing wrong with keeping an open mind and besides, with how his Ministry vehemently preaches against the Dark and we're never given a good reason why, they have to be hiding something. Or maybe they're adamant about keeping control!"

The three continued their banter, not realizing that one of Dumbledore's aurors was right behind them, listening to the entire conversation.

"So those insufferable Dark Ones are at it again? Well not this time, not ever again. I will see to it that Dumbledore hears of their misdeed, for it will be their last."

The auror slowly walked away past the stone building and Apparated to the Ministry, the problem to be soon dealt with.

At the end of the townspeople's conversation, Zacharias spoke "Anyone else here get the feeling something bad is about to happen?"

"Yes...but that will not be until nightfall." One of the Dark Ones, a sandy-blonde man replied.

Zacharias nodded and looked around him, listening to the other bantering going around the group.

"Is there a way you can show us what happens in between now and tonight?" Susan inquired.

"No, I'm afraid not." John responded. "That memory doesn't belong to us, but to ancestors of some of yours and others, particularly the Minister of this time. You will find that memory to be located with your current headmaster."

"What is going to happen tonight, John?" Colin asked.

"You are about to see momentarily. Now, before I show you what happens next, I must ask that you try to keep an open mind. What you are about to see will shock you and it might anger some of you. I am not showing you this so you can form new enemies out of your friends, nor am I asking you to ignore it. If that is how you choose to react, then that is fine. But please, don't come to a quick judgement."

The students shared an uneasy stare before nodding. John waved his wand again and the scene began to change. It was nightfall. The full moon was at its zenith, proudly lighting the sky, illuminating the village and trees below.

"We will now proceed forth to Nightingale Forest...that is where the 'shit hits the fan' or...however you young folk say it these days." John led the way down a grass-covered path, with Colin, the others and the Dark Ones in tow.

About ten minutes or so passed when they reached Nightingale Forest. All sorts of trees-pine, oak, birch, yew, alder and the like towered over the group. Shrubs and tangled vines danced around the area, decorating them in their nearly evergreen foliage. Autumn leaves, moss and pine needles strewn all over the forest floor. A large clearing was up ahead, lit by several free-floating torches in a circle. The group walked until John stopped them at a large oak, the same one Colin saw in his dream. '_This is the same oak...the same place in my dream...'_ a feeling of deja-vu was rearing its way up.

"Watch." Adrastos pointed in the direction of a group of twenty people; the Dark Ones, to be exact.

They were standing around conversing with one another over their day, techniques for potion brewing and laughing.

"Who's the slightly shorter light blonde beside you, John?" Dennis asked curiously, pointing to the right of John in the clearing.

"That would be my younger brother, Liam." He whispered.

"Oh...ok." Satisfied with the answer, he turned to watch the current scene.

Everything seemed fine and dandy up until an older man, at least sixty years old, surrounded by younger wizards and witches entered the clearing from the opposite end, wands raised.

"Dark Ones!" The older man boomed, gaining the Dark Ones' attention.

"Minister Wulfric Dumbledore...what exactly have we done to gain your visitation, O Prestigious One?" John Creevey queried, eyeing Dumbledore and his team of Aurors.

"You know exactly what you and your band of hellions have done, imprinting your foul ideals in the minds of children. You gave them the impression that nothing you do is wrong and they spread that disease throughout the villages! We're here to put an end to it. You will surrender at once and cease your Dark Magic!" Dumbledore snarled.

"Listen to Dumbledore, Adrastos! He is right and you have gone too far this time!" The red-haired Auror, Bradan Weasley, called out to his brother.

Adrastos merely frowned and glared.

"I don't know where you get this notion that we're poisoning their minds! What we do can help them! It's your fault that people have died or gotten injured because you and everyone else who follows you fail to listen to us!" John shot back.

Dumbledore stood taller, scowling at him. "Why would we heed the words of those who practice the Dark Arts? That path leads to nothing but destruction and utter peril. Nothing good ever comes from it and no one needs to hear your lies, Creevey!"

"It is not a lie! You don't understand! We were only telling them the truth! There are two sides to magic, Wulfric! How can you live with yourself, keeping people ignorant?! They have a right to know!" John yelled angrily.

Dumbledore stepped forward "We rule this land and we decide what magic is lawful and what is not! We cannot and will not allow you and your comrades to taint the minds of our youth and the other citizens that live in the Wizarding world! You seem to have forgotten whose word is supreme around here and we won't stand for your insolence!"

Adrastos took this time to stand firmly at John's left, addressing the Minister and his Aurors "You are the ones who are insolent, storming to our place of solitude, demanding us to abandon and disregard what is of great importance!"

Dumbledore replied "You come from a good Light family, Adrastos. It is a shame that you've disgraced your house with this sort of magic."

The crimson-haired man countered "I'd rather be a 'disgrace' than to be your blind pawn, you insufferable fool."

Wulfric's eyes narrowed in anger but decided to remain silent.

John spoke up "It's people like you that are truly the disgrace and you say that 'we' give wizarding kind a bad name. So take your ill-considered senses, your thoughtless imbeciles and go back to the cave from whence you came and leave us be."

He beckoned to the rest to leave the clearing but that was cut short when a raven-haired woman screeched like a banshee "How dare you to speak to our minister that way, you evil wretch?!" and fired a powerful stinging hex at the blonde's back, sending him to the forest floor.

"John!" one of the members, a man with dark brown hair, now known as Adam cried.

Furious, Adam turned and fired a hex right back to the black-haired woman. Wulfric's crew retaliated, thus plunging both sides into a small-scale war. Colin and his friends stood there, gaping as hexes were fired left and right, people being flung across the clearing, some knocked out cold.

"That bitch! She hexed you just because you turned your back! What a coward!" Colin yelled out to John.

He looked down at him sadly then back to the fray. The fight suddenly took a turn for the worse when Adam was cast into Flint and Montague's ancestors, dazed nearly out of his mind and a sandy blonde-haired man was thrown right at Colin's feet, causing Hannah to jump back into Zacharias in panic.

"Shit, Hannah! He can't touch you...it's a mem-" he stopped abruptly seeing the man was terribly injured, hardly moving with multiple slash wounds, bruises and a gash on his forehead. Zacharias paled when he heard John call out this man's last name.

"Smith!"

They looked up to see the light blonde looking upon the man on the ground in fear, his expression of pure rage. John ran back to the the clearing, wand pointed directly at Auror Potter. He cast a final curse on the raven-haired woman, who nearly sent Smith to an early grave.

"CRUCIO!" he roared, making her writhe and contort in serious pain, blood starting to seep from her mouth.

He watched her for a mere minute and ended the Cruciatus Curse.

"That's what you get for nearly killing Bronwen and trying to destroy the rest of us." John turned from her, leaving her in the dirt just like she left Smith.

He wandered back to the others in the clearing. Zacharias was pale, shaking with anger, looking down upon his ancestor, now Bronwen Smith. He was angry about what happened to him...how he couldn't do anything about it. A hand rested on his shoulder. He turned to see it was Bronwen's. Bronwen rubbed his descendant's shoulder gently.

"I know Zacharias...but you needed to see this."

Zacharias shook his head silently and gazed back onto the scene in front of him. John studied the area around the clearing. Wulfric and most of his aurors were either injured, helping each other off the ground or were entirely incapacitated. No one was killed, much to his relief. Although, Smith and Auror Potter appeared closer to death than everyone else. Nonetheless, the same was found for his side except most just had some bumps and bruises, maybe a cut or two. Adam was very dazed from the assault; other than that, they were far better off than the opposing side.

"Let's go, we've made our point and Bronwen needs medical attention."

Two of the larger-framed Dark Ones picked up Bronwen and they all strolled away from the scene. Unfortunately, it was too late. An even larger group of Aurors surround the Dark Ones.

"By orders of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and of our minister Wulfric Dumbledore, you are all under arrest."


End file.
